ALONG COMES MARY

It is always funny to me that if I ask a lot of people which is my favorite musical, I usually get told “Wicked”. While I definitely adore the Wizard of Oz prequel & it’s very dear to my heart, my most favorite musical of all time is the 1950’s classic, Guys & Dolls.

Some might think of Guys & Dolls as the most commonly produced musical in high schools, but ask anyone in theatre & I am sure they will agree that this Frank Loesser production, based on a story by Damon Runyon, is easily one of the best examples  in history of musical theatre.

My love for Guys & Dolls began nearly 11 years ago. I was not into live theatre at all prior, yet, I began volunteering at PCPA Theatrefest in Solvang, where I lived, & I instantly was mesmerized at the spectacle taking place before me. Guys & Dolls is one of those gems that makes you feel transformed to 1930’s Manhattan, in the midst of the depression & many lost souls looking to make their next buck.

At the core of the plot is the blossoming love affair of Miss Sarah Brown, who works at The Save A Soul Mission, searching to save all the sinners of the city, & Sky Masterson, one of the top crap game gamblers known, especially to Nathan Detroit, who desperately needs to win the next big crap game after blowing all his money on the last one. Sneaky Nathan bets that Sky cannot get a date with goody-good Sarah….or can he?

While all the while, Nathan has his own trouble with his fiancée of 12 years, Miss Adelaide, who works as a Hot Box Girl….& cannot get rid of a pesky cold. These 4 lives come together in crazy, zany, adventurous ways, & the show is nothing short of genius.

Guys & Dolls just finished up a marvelous run at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, & now, for us lucky Angelenos, it is making its way to The Wallis Annenberg Theatre in Beverly hills, with previews beginning tonight, & opening on Friday, December 4th. I was honored to attend a rehearsal of Guys & Dolls, as well as talk with several of the stars & Broadway royalty, Tony Award winner, Mary Zimmerman, who directed both in Ashland & now in LA.

For Kate Hurster, who plays Miss Sarah, she was skeptical to play such a role as she feels Sarah is “too close to herself” &  “a stick in the mud” & she gets real joy out of letting her hair down post some dulce de leche in Havana, while Adelaide’s Robin Goodrin Nordli loves that her character is so true to herself, which Zimmerman also commented on, that while all the other characters in Guys & Dolls are not true to themselves when we are first introduced, Adelaide is the one who is who she is & knows what she wants.

Guys & Dolls will run through December 20th. Learn more & get your tickets HERE. Hope to see you there! xo

(*Discloure: I am working with The Annenberg for this production. All opinios are my own.)